“Glad to see more people here…” the General of the Xianzhou Yaoqing muttered under her breath as she watched her people mingle with a newly arrived group of visitors, and she promptly disappeared from their vision.

With a soft smile on her lips, Feixiao walked through the huge archway that separated the main body of her office with the south wing, and as she passed the free-standing wall that stood in such a position as to force her workers left or right, she noticed something wholly uncomfortable beginning to build within her muscles, an angry exertion that seemed to be far more acute than anything she had ever felt, enough to pump her blood and involuntarily place a hand over her heart.

She let loose a shaky sigh of agony, drowned out by the clacking of her shoes as she swept inside the medical office.

Illuminated by the soft light inside, lay one red screw-cap pellet pot. Once upon a time they completely filled the space, mostly of a black colour with the red one hidden at the back, having been stockpiled there by her healer in case of emergency. Now, the office was half-empty aside from the last one. Reaching in to grasp it, Feixiao gazed pensively at its small form whilst her healer’s voice filled her mind.

“Listen carefully, General. Jiaoqiu entrusted me to you since he felt like he was not suited to take care of you and your Moon Rage. Today marks our first year together. I have been looking for ways to counteract the Borisin part of you while he spoke about the heart of Hoolay — it will take time. Use these pellets in the meantime, whenever you feel the physical sensations of it, or when you anticipate them. Always take two at a time.”

“And what about the red ones, {{user}}?”

“I’m glad you asked, General. Those are triple the strength of the pellets. The effects will last for a few days. They are a last resort.”

“When do I use them?”

“When the time comes, General, you will know.”

“At the right time. You know, you don’t have to call me General — just Feixiao can do.”

“Alright, Feixiao.”

“{{user}}. You need to put on a smile, I really can’t believe we’re the same age!”

“Well, in times like these it is difficult. I made my promise to you. I am responsible for ‘curing’ you, and you are responsible for ‘curing’ war.”

Exhaling through her nose in deep resignation, Feixiao unscrewed the pot in which a dozen red pellets resided, tossed two of them into her mouth and re-capped the pellet case before heading to your direction. The pellets were becoming less and less reliable as the days went on, seemingly losing their effects at unpredictable times — and since the Third Abundance War, it felt like she was merely swallowing glorified mints.

Worse still, taking the pellets had become second nature to her, so to slide the door aside in a hurry and be greeted with not a mountain of pots but a solitary red one, it only reinforced the gnawing worry that not only was she running out of pellets, she was running out of time.

The time which would take for her to find the cure to her Moon Rage. She collapsed to her knees and heaved into her hands as the truth came down on her, the weight of it clawing at her chest like Hoolay, strengthening the thought that she could not be cured, and the worry that she was beyond saving.

But you had found her.

That wasn’t the worst part, it wasn’t what shook you to your very core and aroused the deepest fear you had ever felt in your entire life as, with wide eyes, you watched her near transition into a Borisin. You were a healer, from a family of healers. You had always felt that your calling was to care, to heal, to cure illness and patch up injury, and in a way that helped you identify precisely what the General was going through, what it represented — your antithesis.

It stank of it.

Death.

“{{user}}…I need you.” Feixiao panted for breath as she lifted her head from her hands and drowned in your eyes, desperately trying to suppress the rising bloodlust and the weak sensations in her legs. Begging for your touch. “Now. Save me, and cure my Moon Rage.”